I Survived Amsterdam - Budapest and the Last Hoorah!

My last few days in Amsterdam were exciting... First, Jesse and Lauren came back to town for American Thanksgiving, then Jesse and I took off to Budapest for a few days. The city was very festive, whit white lights being the dominant Christmas decoration.

There were also a few Christmas markets, and each made a delicious roasted dough treat, covered in coconut, nuts or cinnamon mmm....

Budapest also has a coffeeshop chain called Anna, with a logo surprisingly similar to Starbucks. Those crazy Eastern Europeans and their trademark infringement.

We went to a ruin pub, which is similar to Amsterdam's squat scene. This one had two street front entrances, one house apart, with the two buildings connecting only through the underground.

We spent most of our time on the Pest side where our friend and my former roommate Ada lives, but this picture of the Hungarian Parliament was taken from the Buda side.

We took a tour of the Parliament building as well. This model was made entirely out of toothpicks by a Hungarian family. The model was too big to fit through their house door, so a wall had to be removed. As a "thank you" for the model, the family was given a new house.

When smoking was allowed in the Parliament building, the politicians would leave their cigars in these numbered holders before entering the chamber. The quality of a speaker was measured by how much cigars burned out during his speach.

Jesse and me back on the Buda side.

Budapest also has some outdoor thermal baths. It was amazing to swim outside on a December night. The steaming water and marble statues made it feel like an ancient Roman bath or like I was a movie star.

Ada and me at the baths' entrance.

My last hours in Amsterdam... Jesse, Gijs, parties and mushroom lamps.
I'm writing this from Canada, which means I survived Amsterdam. I also managed to keep this blog going for 3.5 years, much longer than anyone managed to keep up with. Still, it's a personal best. It was amazing and I'm sure I'll be back, but for now I'm marveling at how friendly Canadians are. It never seizes to amaze me.